Other than making you feel inferior about your own closet organization techniques, Pinterest also serves as a treasure box of fashion hacks: tricks and tips to help you save money and improve your style.

Here are my two latest contributions: inexpensive and easy tricks to having perfect nails and eyelashes this summer.

The very reason I love having painted fingernails is the same reason I can't paint them: As a writer and pianist, my fingers lead my life.

I spend so much time moving and looking at my hands that I half expect to see their reflection looking back at me in the mirror. I identify with my hands more than my own face.

But I'm far from gentle with them. I'm an aggressive finger-pecker. Which means regular polish has a half-life of 30 seconds on my nails before it chips off and looks worse than if I left them naked.

That's the Great Nail Dilemma, with which I have long struggled.

Then there's the Lash Impasse.

Every brand of mascara claims it's the fullest, darkest, longest, most earth-shattering. But the truth is, it does not matter what's in the bottle if the canvas onto which you're applying it is thin, short and sad. I speak from experience. I swear the hair that grows on my toes (awkward) is thicker than my lashes.

The most pulled-together I've ever felt was the few weeks when I had eyelash extensions (Xtreme Lashes from the West End Salon in Boulder). Each lash that fell off felt like a small death to me. Because I knew I could never again justify the $150 to $450 application cost.

Although I love Mac's No. 7 glue-on lashes ($16 a pair), which look natural enough to wear every day, fake lashes feel stiff and can pop off and drop into your latte like fuzzy caterpillar. From experience also. And during allergy season, the glue coating seems to trap pollen particles. Long lashes with red, watering eyes is too cliche for the Stoner State.

So what's a girl who doesn't want to spend beaucoup bucks to do? (OK, I want to spend the money, but ...)

Here are the two work-arounds I discovered this summer:

Fashion Hack No. 1: Gelnamel polish

I will not take out a second mortgage on my home to get my nails professionally done every week when the act of painting one's nails is actually super simple; it's no self-liver transplant.

I've tried the at-home gel polish kit, which you bake on with an LED lamp. They lasted a world-record five days, but the heavy polish coating was too thick and unnatural to not uncontrollably need to pick at.

Plus, a good gel kit is pricey: near $100 or more. Sephora by OPI's gelshine system is $150 on sale, and each gelshine color costs another $17.50 a pop.

Beyond that, gel's too time-consuming to be realistic. Base coat, polish, top coat, LED fake-bake time. My wiggle room (the time before I get too wiggly) is no more than 45 seconds per nail, including paint and cook time. Ain't nobody got time for gels.

When I ran across Fuse Gelnamel at the good ol' pharmacy, I was intrigued by the simplicity: one step, one coat, 30 seconds under the LED, less than $15 for the whole kit, plus one polish. Each extra color costs less than $6 per bottle.

It works. Foolproof.

The polish has the strength of gel, but it's thinner and easier to work with. It's "self-settling," so it spreads itself out evenly across your nail (I think it has a brain). It's long-lasting with minimal chippage, even with no top coat. Did I mention cheap?

Now when I look in the mirror, I see red shiny happiness peering back at me.

The worst problem you'll have here is trying to get this polish off — ever.

Younique's 3D Fiber Lashes are my new hypothetically-stuck-on-a-desert-island must-have. Brush over your lashes with "transplanting gel" (sort of like sticky mascara) and then brush onto that a wand covered in tiny, awesome synthetic lashes made out of natural green tea fibers. They stick, adding real volume and length to your lashes, just like single-lash falsies, but temporarily and easily.

Yes, there is one extra step, so they take a few minutes more than regular mascara. But they're quicker and cleaner than glue-ons and cheap: $30 for a kit that will last you a month or two. Pick up a set from Theresa Stemwedel (lashflutters.com), who grew up in Boulder and now sells Younique in Wisconsin.

And with the time you're saving with gelnamel, you can now spare an extra 30 seconds per eye to look like a lashy Indian pop star.

Best of all: No caterpillars bomb onto the table. Maybe a few loose spider legs, if you aren't careful during application. But they're green tea spiders. So Little Miss Muffet can relax when they fall into her cup.

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